


the only thing worth fighting for

by LiveLaughLovex



Series: nothing half so pleasant [3]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Post-Episode: s09e14 Ikliki i ka la o Keawalua (Depressed with the Heat of Kealwalua), Spoilers for: s09e14 Ikliki i ka la o Keawalua (Depressed with the Heat of Kealwalua)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-02
Updated: 2019-02-02
Packaged: 2019-10-20 21:13:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17629796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiveLaughLovex/pseuds/LiveLaughLovex
Summary: Post s09e14. Kono Kalakaua had never been happier to call Steve McGarrett a friend as she was in that moment.





	the only thing worth fighting for

**Author's Note:**

> This story was one I began writing almost the second the episode began. I love writing about Kono's friendship with Steve in general, but writing these scenes when the episode gives me such great material is much easier. I hope you all enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it. 
> 
> The title comes from Carrie Underwood's "Love Wins:"   
> Love is power, love is a smile  
> Love reaches out, love is the remedy  
> Love is the answer, love's an open door  
> Love is the only thing worth fighting for, yeah

“Well,” O’Connor sighed that evening, pushing away from her desk and standing slowly from her seat. “I think I’m going to go home, cuddle my kids, and pretend the world’s not half as bad as it really is. What’s on the agenda for you?”

“Oh. Uh, there’s a vigil being held for Luka Palakiko in an hour or so,” Kono answered distractedly. “Lou and Adam both called earlier to tell me about it. This guy was apparently really important to Flippa, so I think I’ll go out there, be there for my friend, you know?”

O’Connor nodded once. “That’s good of you. From what I’ve heard about that man, he deserves to have the entire island there to honor him. He saved a lot of kids from a fate that might be worse than death over the years.”

Kono scoffed humorlessly at that. “Yes, he did,” she agreed. “McGarrett was telling me earlier that the girl he was helping run away right before he died was going to be sent to conversion therapy on the mainland. That’s how desperate her parents were to _fix_ her.” She practically spat the sentence, her words full of disgust. “I know I’ve never been a mother, but I can’t imagine…”

“No good parent can imagine doing that, Kono,” O’Connor promised her. “Your children are your children. If they’re not out there hurting themselves or others, your job is just to love them, not change them into the person you want them to be. That’s not unconditional love at all. I just wish more people would try to figure that one out before bringing kids into this world and then spending the rest of their lives tearing them down.”

“Yeah, you and me both,” Kono muttered in response. “Hey. Tell Hadley I’ll see her this weekend, all right? I promised the other day to take her out for shave ice, and this is the first opportunity I’ll have to follow through.”

“This is why you’re their favorite,” O’Connor muttered good-naturedly, gathering the last of her things. “I’ll tell her, though. Drive safe, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Kono promised. “See you later.”

“See you.” With that, O’Connor headed for the elevator, and the detective sergeant was once again left alone with her thoughts.

It was on days like the one she’d just been through that she realized just how much of a bubble she’d grown up in on the Island. Yes, she’d faced sexism and racism on more than one occasion in her life. Even in the twenty-first century, it seemed that was just how the world was. She’d very rarely faced it so close to home, however, and the fact that the man who’d nearly taken innocent lives that day had killed two good men simply because of the color of their skin and had planned to murder a building full of kids for the same reason? It was becoming clearer and clearer to her why so many cops became alcoholics a few years in.

She hadn’t even dealt with the case personally. She’d offered assistance to McGarrett, but he’d wanted her to remain as far away as possible, probably because the immunity she’d once held was no longer in effect. She’d heard from Adam that he’d gone a bit insane on the man who’d helped to orchestrate the attacks Russell planned, though, which was good enough for her. She certainly didn’t want to be in the same room as him. If she was held responsible for the actions she’d likely commit when in a confined space with a person who’d come to her islands with the notion that he had any more right to be there than anyone else on the streets, especially those who came from the people the land first belonged to, then she’d probably end up in a prison cell herself, and that wasn’t an item on her bucket list.

Her phone began ringing just as she’d finished signing out of her computer, and she removed the device from her pocket, smiling wryly when she caught sight of the name flashing across the screen.

“Hey, cuz,” she greeted Chin Ho before he could say a word. “Everything all right?”

“I think I should be the one asking that,” her cousin responded worriedly. “From what I hear, things could’ve gone pretty bad today.”

“I’ve heard that, too,” Kono sighed as she stood from her desk. “You know McGarrett, though. He’d never stand by and let so many people get hurt on his watch. Not if he had any say in it. Luckily for about a thousand people on this island, he did today.”

“Yeah.” Chin paused for a moment to listen to his niece on the other end of the line. “Hey, Sara’s here,” he informed her, his voice softening the way it always did when he spoke about the little girl he loved like his own. “She wants to talk to you.”

“Put her on,” Kono demanded laughingly. “She’s much more interesting than you.”

Chin simply sighed amusedly at that one, then handed the phone over. It only took half a second for the excited chatter of a happy little girl to fill Kono’s ears. As she listened to Sara enthusiastically go on and on about her week and the part she’d been cast as in an upcoming school play, Kono couldn’t help but smile.

Yeah, there were a lot of awful people in the world. There almost always had been, and there probably always would be. But they were far outnumbered by the good individuals, the ones who ran into fires instead of setting them, and if the next generation was made up of people like that, people like Grace and Charlie and Sara and Joan, then there was no denying the world would be left in excellent hands. People like Russell would soon have to start watching their backs. It was a realization Kono was really happy to come to.

It wasn’t long before Sara eventually grew tired of talking and wanted to go outside and play, so Kono soon found herself staring down at the black screen of her phone with that same smile on her face, the one her aunts often referred to as “maternal.” She packed up the last of her things, headed for the elevator, and then walked out to the parking lot, more prepared than ever to honor the life of a man who’d done more than enough to deserve it.

She’d never met Luka Palakiko, but between Flippa’s song and Annie’s speech, she found herself in tears at the end of the evening all the same. She walked back to the parking lot in Steve, silence surrounding them for most of the journey. Eventually, though, her curiosity got the best of her.

“Lou said you threw the guy who helped Russell put this all together into a wall,” she commented casually, glancing over just in time to see the way his eyes widened slightly before his stoic expression returned. “And I just wanted to thank you for that. If I can’t do it myself, knowing you did is almost as good.”

“Yeah, well, I figured maybe I’d knock some sense into him,” Steve muttered, his words tinged with an anger she knew was in no way directed at her. She’d very rarely been so grateful to call the man next to her a friend. “Didn’t work, though, so then I figured I’d just kick his ass for the fun of it. Not like he didn’t deserve it.”

“Oh, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone more deserving,” Kono drawled sarcastically. “You know what I can’t stand about people like him?”

“Everything?” Steve offered wryly.

Kono smirked slightly at his sardonic tone. “Well, yes, but not what I meant. He’s out here spewing nonsense about how he’s the superior race, how minorities have declared war on him and his kind, and he lives here. On Oahu. You know, they babble on and on about everything that’s been taken from them but fail to mention that most of what they think has been taken from them was actually taken _by_ them _from_ someone else in the past. It’s like they just skipped every history class offered.”

“Or didn’t pay attention unless the information fit their narrative,” Steve muttered, shaking his head. “You know, I really am sorry I had to stop with just the one guy. I would’ve liked to punch every single person who thinks that way.”

“Well,” Kono sighed, patting him on the shoulder. “There’s always tomorrow.” She laughed when he shook his head at her, the seriousness of the moment effectively broken. “’Night, McGarrett,” she sighed as she opened the door and slid behind the wheel.

“’Night,” Steve returned. “Drive safe, all right?”

“Always. You too, yeah?” Kono returned, smiling when he simply nodded in response. “See you later.”

“Yeah,” Steve replied. “See you later.” He closed the door behind her and waved as she backed from her spot. She couldn’t help but smile as she returned the gesture.

There were a lot of good people in the world, but very few of them were as truly good as McGarrett and all those who worked for him. Kono was just very happy they were in her corner. She couldn’t imagine what her life would be like if they weren’t.


End file.
